Power-cultivator.



No. 877,983. 'PATENTED FEB. 4, ma.

c. EDWARDS,- Y Poma nULTIvAToR. PPLIoIl-TILBD`HB. 20| 199%. v2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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N0.877,988. l' MENTED 1533.4, 1908.

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APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 20. 1907. l

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Cle nErTEn sTETEs CHARLES EDWARDS, OF DHAYTON, NORTH DAKOTA.

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Specification;h t Letters Patent.

Patented Eeb. 4, 1908.

Application iiled March 0, 1907. Serial No. 363.353.

To all will/mt it `may concern:

Bc it known that l, CHARLES EDWARDS, a citizen of thc United States, residing at Drayton, in the county of lcmbina and State of North Dakota, have invented certain new and useful lmprovemcntsin Power-Cultivators; and l do hereby `ieclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description 'of the invention, such n ill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to maire and use the same.

, My invention has for its especial object to provide an improved power driven cultivator, and to this end it consists of the novel devices and (-.ombinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

This improved cultivator involves amultiplicity of toothed or hoc-equipped vibratory levers that work with a tedder-like action and arc adapted to be driven, under the forward movement of the machine, either by power from an engine carried from the ltruck of the machine, or of the machine. A multiplicity of these toothed levers are arranged towork in close juxtaposition transverselyr of the machine and at their rear ends are given motion through a oWer-driven crank shaft, While the forwar( projections of the said levers are suspended by vibratory links. The arrangement is also such that'the teeth or hoes of the said levers in their action upon the ground tend to pull the machine forward or to advance the machine in the direction of its travel. Novel means is also provided for varying the depth of cut of the teeth or hoes of the levers. l

ln the accompanying drawings which illustrate the machine, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

vReferring" to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the improved machine, with some parts broken away; and l? ig. 2 is a side 'elevatio'n of the machine.

The truck frame is shown as rectangular in outline, being made up of laterally spaced side beams 1, front beam 2, rear beam 3 and central longitudinally extended beam 4, rigidi)r secured togetl'icr and supporting a platform 5. The rear traction Wheels 6 are secured to a rear axle -7 which is journaled in suitable bearings on the side beams 1. The front or steering wheels 8 are loosely journaled on a front axle 9 which is intermediately pivoted to a bracket 10 rigidly from the traction Wheelsv l secured to the front portion of the truck frame. lvlounted in suitable bearings 11 on the side beams 1 at the rear of the axle 9, is a windlass shaft 12 which provided with a pair of chain sheaves 13. The chain sheaves 13 are connected by transversely Wound chains 14 to. the lfront axle 9 on opposite sides of its pivotal connection to the bracketv 10.

. The numeral 15 indicates a pole which is pivotally connected to the axle 9.

The numeral 16 indicates a vertical shaft which, at its upper edge, is shown asprovided with a steering Wheel 17 and at its lower end is connected to the Windlass shaft 12 by the usual Worm and gear connection 18. This steering connection, however,

is useful only When=the pole 15 is removed described.

The numeral` 19 indicates an ex loslve engine shown as mounted on the plat orm 5 outer end of which is journaled in a bearing bracket 21 secured on one side of the platform 5. The shaft 20 is provided with pulleys 22 and 23.

The numeral 24 indicates a counter-shaft located at the rear of the shaft 20 and mountediin suitable bearings 25 and 26 secured, i respectively, and the right hand side beam 1 of the truck frame. This counter-shaft 24 is provided With a large pulley 27 and with a smaller pulley 2S. A belt 29 runs over the pulleys 22 and 27.v TheA numeral 30 indicates another counter-shaft Which is mounted in 4suitable bearings 31 and 32 secured, respectively, to the said central beam 4 and to the right hand beam 1 of the truck frame. This counter-shaft 30 is provided with a pulley 32 and with a spur pinion 33. A belt 34 runs over the pulleys 28 and Thepinion 33 meshes with a spur gear secured to the rear axle 7. By the connections just described motion is transmitted from the crank shaft of thc engine to'thc rear axle, and, l hence, to the traction Wheels 6 of the machine, for imparting traveling motion to the machine. l

Mounted in suitable bearings located on the under sides of the central and side beams of the truck frame, is a. crank-shaft 36 which is provided Witha multiplicity of cranks, to

and the machine is driven by an engine' carried by the truck and presently to be f and provided with an extended shaft 20', the.

to the central beam t 'forms no part of my present invention and ,y

spring arms 40at their rear ends, are pivotally supported by a transverse rod 4,1 that is rigidly secured to suita'ble bearings on the side beams 1 and intermediate beani 4 of the truck frame; and at their forward `ends they 'are pivotally attached to links 42 that are preferably formed by rods bent into approxi# mately rectangular form and are pivotally attached at their lower ends to bearings 42a on the intermediate portions of 'the respec` tive 'levers 37. Each of these links42lworks straddleof and is guided .by short lon itudinally extended guide blocks 43 rigi ly secured to small transverse angle bars 44 rigidly secured to the side bars 1 and centrally y"of the truck frame.

The forwardly projectingr free ends of -the spring arms are adjustablyT supported by the underlyingr extended crank portions'of a crank-like adjusting bail 45 that is pivoted to bearings 45*1 and 45?, respectively, on the central'bar 4 and side bars 1 of th'e truck frame.' At one end, to-wit, as shown, at its left hand end, the adjusting bail 45 is provided with a rigidly secured latch lever 46 that coperates with a latch'segment 47 rigidly securedon the adjacent side beam 1.

Another but quite similar crank-like 'adusting bail 48 is likewise pivoted to suitable earings on the.central beam 4y and side beamsl of the truck frame. The crank portions of this bail 48 overlie/and engage the upper portions of the spring arms 4() at points somewhat forward of their supporting rod 41. Also, like the crank bail 45, this crank l bail 48 is provided at its left hand end with a latch lever 51 that cooperates with a latch segment 52 rigidly secured to the lefthand beam 1 of the truck. frame. l

The lcrank shaft 36, at one end, to-wit,

as shown at its right hand end, is vprovided with a pulley 53 overwhich endthe pulley 23 on the engine shaft 20 runs a belt 54 by means of whichy power is transmitted from the shaft of the engine to. the said crank Shaft 36'.

As is evident, when the machine is driven forward, either by thefengine or by horses hitched to the pole 15, said crank shaft 36 will be rotated and the toothed ends of the levers 37 will be moved with' a'tedder-like action; that is, they will be moved upward and forward and theny downward and rearward,

and under their downward and rearward movement, the hoes or teeth 39 will be caused to enter and dig up the ground with which-they are engaged. It is also evident that said levers are arranged in three sets for successive action and that the ,hoes of at least one set will always be operative 'on the ground under the advanced movement of the machine. This successive action is, of course, due to the arrangement of vthe cranks 15 of the shaft 36 at angles to each other. In the machine described there are six levers 36 and, consequently, there are two levers in each set.

The depth of cut or penetration ofthe .id hoes or teeth into the ground will, of course,` depend upon the vertical adjustment of the forwardly projecting free'ends of the spring supporting arms 40, and'such adjustments 'of the said spring arms may, as is evident, be varied by the adjustments of the arm supporting crank bail 45. By such vadjustments, the levers 37 may be so set that their teeth or hoes 39 will deeply enterthe ground, in the one instance,v and in the other instance will not be brought into contact with the ground. Of course, any desired adjustment between these two extremes may be accomplished by the means just stated. It is also evident that under the downward and rearward movements of the said levers l37 the pull of. their teeth or hoes 39 on the ground will tend to advance the machine forward, ythereby making the machine easy to rua or propel. 0fV course, the arrangement must be such that said levers 37 and their teeth`or hoes will move faster than the forward travel of the machine. The spring supporting arms 40 permit the tooth or hoe-equipped ends of the levers 37 105 to rise or to cut short their downward movements in case a stone or other hard object is engaged byv said teeth or hoes, and this, as is evident,'will prevent breaking of the latter. The force under which the spring arms 40 will press downward on the levers 37 ma be varied by adjustments of the crank bai l48.l Otherwise and more particularly stated, the downward pressure of the said supporting arms is increased by the downward pressure thereon of the said crank bail 48. By reference particularly to the plan view Fig. 1, it will be noted that the teeth or hoes of the levers 37 areso disposed that they will engage and dig up all of the ground coming within the extremes of their zone of action. What I claim is: 1. In a machine of the kind described, the combination with a truck, of avp'ower driven crank shaft mounted on the rear ortion of the frame of said truck, la multiplicity of tedder-acting levers connected to said crank shaft at thelr rear ends, extended in afg wardly direction and provided at their'jree/ .frontends with teeth or hoes, and links-pi-vt'- 130 effacs vfront ends with teeth or hoes, and links pivot- .ally and yieldingly supported at their UPPer ends from said ltruck frame andl ivotally connected at their lower ends to t e intermediate portions ofthe said tedder acting levers, substantially as described.

3. In a machine ofthe kind described, the combination With a crank shaft,and means for rotating the same under the forward movementof the machine, of a multiplicity of tedder-acting levers connected to said crank shaft at one end and provided at theirI free ends with teeth or hoes, yielding'ly supe ported arms carried by the truck frame, lin s connecting the free ends of said supporting arms to the intermediate portions ofthe respective levers, and means for vertically ad.-

justing said sup lorting arms to vary the depth of cut of t e teeth or yhoes of said le vers, substantially as described. l

4. In a machine of the lkind described, the combination with a crank shaft and means of tedderlactin `levers connected to said for rotating the same under the forward movement of the machine, of a multiplicity crank shaft at t eir rear ends and provided at their forward ends with teeth or hoes, of

V61' S mea/DS downward pressure ofsaid spring arms, substantially as described.

5. In a machine of the kind described, the combination with a crank shaft having cranks set at angles, of a multiplicity of tedder-acting leverslpivotally connected at one end to the cranks of said shaft and provided at their free ends with teeth or hoes, yielding arms carried by the truck frame, links connecting the free ends of said arms to the intermediate portions of the respective levers, a crank bail mounted on the truck frame and underlying and supporting the free ends of said yielding arms, a latch lever attached to said adjusting bail, anda -latch segment on the truck frame co erating. with said latch lever, substantia ly as described. i

6. In a machine of the kind described, the combinationI with a crank shaft having cranks set at angles, of means for rotating said crank shaft under the forward movesaid spring arms to vary the downward ten- CHARLES EDWARDS.

Witnesses: J. C. T. CoLLnY, A. C. OLsoN. 

